Caramel Tarts – Tutorial

Mini tarts are to pies as cupcakes are to cakes. They are miniature individual portions of their larger kin, and more easily portable. So portable that, why, you can even carry a wrapped one in your shirt pocket, not that you would want to, but you could. These caramel tarts are made even more convenient by their boat-like shape, in that each could be consumed in two to three bites.

I used the Basic Pie Crust recipe for the pastry shell and a super simple easy recipe-to-make the caramel filling. Just mix all four ingredients; the condensed milk, cheddar cheese, egg yolks and vanilla, and set aside.

Roll the pastry dough as you would pie dough, then cut it into smaller shapes to fit over mini tart molds. Once you press the dough into the tart mold you can cleanly remove the excess by rolling your rolling pin right over the surface.

Remove the excess pastry dough. This can be re-rolled later with other scraps of dough.

Spoon the caramel filling into the tart molds and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes. Remove half-baked tarts from oven and set aside to cool. Meantime, make the meringue topping.

Whip 3 egg whites that have been brought to room temperature with ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Make sure your bowl and wire whip are completely devoid of any kind of fat or oil residue, or the egg whites won’t whip to full volume.

Gradually add ½ cup sugar and whip until stiff peaks, which is when the egg whites are glossy, and can hold a stiff, upright peak without drooping.

Transfer the meringue into a piping bag with a small star tip. Pipe the meringue on each tart in swirls, squiggly lines, or any kind of design. Return the tarts to the oven and bake again at a low temperature of 200 F for 50 – 55 minutes or until meringue is stiff and baked.

I had more meringue than I needed to garnish the tarts, so I just swirled the extra with a large star tip onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and baked it together with the tarts. So I had two cookie sheets in the oven, one with the tarts and the other with the meringue swirls.

Once baked, remove from the oven and place on cooling racks.

I actually made these tarts last September, but yet again I just couldn’t get around to posting them right away, what with, first and foremost, the family, rushing to work, then rushing from work to ballet class at night, then rushing from ballet back home, weekend errands, weekend baking, etc., etc. Sigh! I need more time, but don’t we all?

Hi Linda,
I half baked the tarts first then piped the meringue directly on the tarts, then baked the tarts again at a very low temperature until the meringue was stiff. Actually, you don’t really need the meringue to top the tarts. You can just bake the tarts until brown and they will be delicious as is. Thanks for the note!

Hi! Yes, I would think so. I’ve never tried it that way. I would chop the cashews finely, but that’s just me. If you get a chance, let me know how it turns and let me know how much nuts you added. I might want to try it myself. 🙂